Ethiopia — childhood interrupted
Shepherding, separation from a father, responsibility at home and the first voice heard through a transistor.
A TRUE STORY / WALKING BAREFOOT WITH A TRANSISTOR
The journey began long before the first step.
As a shepherd boy in the Ethiopian village of Gendewa, Alevel Samuel had little access to schooling and grew up after his father was taken by the army. He survived an arduous journey of more than 800 kilometers on foot, started over in Israel, earned an engineering education, and went on to build an international career in technology.
But this story is about more than how far he came. It is also about his commitment to give back twice as much as he received.
ALEVEL SAMUEL
Four childhood dreams. Almost impossible odds.
Long before he learned to read or write, Alevel had four ambitions that would shape the course of his life.
- 01Bring his father home
- 02Become a businessman
- 03Learn to read and write
- 04Reach Jerusalem
Problems are part of life. How we face them is the art of living.
Experience Is the Greatest Teacher. My Life Is Living Proof.
Not simply getting ahead, but giving back twice as much.
THE BAREFOOT CROSSING / 1983
How far can a child walk when there is no turning back?
28days on foot
800+kilometers barefoot
Little food. Nights walking. Days hiding.
More than 800 kilometers on foot in 28 days. Beyond the numbers: hunger, fear, unfamiliar terrain, and a family trying to stay together.
Read the journey ↗01 / THE FIRST SIGNAL
It began
with a voice
In a childhood shaped by shepherding, hard work and limited access to schooling, a small transistor raised an immense question: how could a distant voice travel through the air? That curiosity never left. Years later, it met electronics, engineering and telecommunications.
TRANSISTOR / MEMORYAM · 1983
Tune into a chapter
Childhood ended early. Responsibility came before the alphabet.
SIGNAL NO. 01 — 04
A shepherd’s staff.
Responsibility too young, fields and livestock, days measured by sunlight and by whatever food was available.
An electric circuit.
Learning to read, a new language, military service, engineering and a career in technology. The same curiosity in another world.
03 / THE FIRST LETTER
To read and write.
A dream postponed until twelve.
Growing up in rural Ethiopia, I longed to learn to read and write, but regular schooling was out of reach. Only when I arrived in Israel at age twelve could I begin my education almost from zero. Every new letter opened a world.
An Amharic song that captures that longing
“How wonderful it is to know how to read and write”
Tsehaye Yohannes · A personal musical association, not a recording from my childhood.
♫ Listen on YouTube The recording opens on YouTube. No audio or video is hosted or played here.
02 / THE MEMOIR / FIRST EDITION
A book written
from the road
This is not simply a story of immigration. It is a story about responsibility learned too young, education against the odds, and the determination to leave no one behind.
Explore the book ↗Leave no one behind.
03 / CHRONOLOGY
Not a straight line.
A life in motion.
Five stations from a longer, carefully documented chronology. Only authentic personal photographs appear here; later photos are never passed off as historical records.
28 days on foot
Departure on Passover eve, over 800 kilometers barefoot, walking at night and hiding by day.
Sudan — learning to endure
Amarqoba, Wadilo, and Tuaba. Camps, separation, hunger, and holding a family together.
Israel — beginning again
Arrival in Israel, learning Hebrew, schooling, military service in 1992 and engineering studies.
A new flock to protect
A career in technology, family, community basketball and a commitment to others.
05 / THE PRESENT
The journey lives
in others.
Community initiatives, basketball games, talks with young people and remembrance ceremonies are not an epilogue. They extend one of the book’s deepest threads: responsibility to other people.
View the personal gallery ↗06 / IN THE PRESS